Discovery/R&D

51. Establishing Research With Horizon Therapeutics' Robert Stoffel, Ph.D. 7/26/2023

    Horizon Therapeutics has made plenty of waves in the biotech news cycle of late. Its formal establishment of a research team – comparatively pragmatic as that may be – could have impactful, long-term consequences.

52. Academia + Industry with BridgeBio's Dr. Michael Henderson 6/21/2021

    BridgeBio has a whopping 30+ pre-clinical to clinical-stage candidates in its pipeline representing an impressive array of modalities and targets. It boasts a couple of commercial wins under its belt. The company is no stranger to developing business strategies for success. Central to that success are partnerships with scientists and researchers to fuel pipeline expansion. On this episode of The Business of Biotech, BridgeBio Chief Business Officer Michael Henderson, M.D. walks us through the formula behind the company's academia-led growth strategy.

53. IDO Target Perseverence With IO Biotech's Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D. 9/13/2022

    Under the leadership of Mai-Britt Zocca, Ph.D., IO Biotech is advancing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies targeting IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase). Though promising, the target fell out of favor after some high-profile misses – most notably Merck's Phase 3 failure with pembrolizumab in 2018. But Immunome's dual mechanism of action is renewing interest in the target, and Dr. Zocca is gaining confidence as the company's data grows. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, she shares the approach, how it differs from previous attempts, and how her company is working to advance its programs in the wake of IDO's fall from grace.

54. Democratizing Biologics With Lumen Bioscience's Brian Finrow, J.D. & Craig Behnke, Ph.D. 12/1/2021

    Making powerful and curative biologic therapies accessible to patients from all walks of life, and all corners of the globe, requires radically innovative thinking. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Lumen Bioscience's Co-Founder and CEO Brian Finrow, J.D. and EVP of Production/Development Craig Behnke, Ph.D. discuss a novel approach: developing therapeutic proteins from readily-available food algae spirulina. It's driving a diverse pipeline of candidates into the clinic, for indications reaching from the gut to the heart and lungs.

55. The Generalist Biotech CEO With Seekyo's Oury Chetboun 7/30/2025

    On this week's Business Of Biotech episode, Oury Chetboun, co-founder and CEO of Seekyo, a French biotech, talks about the range of experiences that prepared him to lead a company focused on developing innovative solid tumor treatments that target functional proteins in the tumor micro-environment.

56. Gene Tx For Renal Disease With Purespring CEO Richard Francis 5/2/2022

    Purespring Therapeutics launched in 2020 on the back of IP developed by renowned kidney researcher Prof. Moin Saleem, who spent decades working on podocytes when podocytes weren’t cool. Just two years later, the company boasts three gene therapy assets and a platform developed expressly to identify new therapeutic targets to address kidney disease. 

57. Population-Level Health Impact With Vaxxinity's John Krayacich 6/14/2023

    Vaxxinity’s John Krayacich likes taking big swings and big indications. He’s played key roles on the teams that launched Lipitor, Lyrica, and Neurontin, which have had measurable impacts on global populations of people suffering from cardiovascular disease, CNS disorders, and pain. He found those opportunities at companies like LEO, Novartis, Parke Davis, and Pfizer. Now, Krayacich is taking big swings at a new set of incredibly challenging candidates—immunotherapeutic vaccines for neurodegenerative and chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Multiple System Atrophy, Parkinson’s, Migraine, and Hypercholesterolemia. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, the Chief Business Officer shares his inspiration and strategy for seeing therapeutics for big, global patient populations through the commercial finish line.

58. Dr. Gaurav Shah: Rocket's Chief Gene Therapist & Virtuoso 8/30/2020

    Rocket Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr. Gaurav Shah shares the parallels between his leadership in the gene therapy space and his successes as a Grammy®-nominated recording artist with the Business of Biotech podcast. This episode is full of actionable insight on the inspiration behind how Dr. Shah manages the science and process side of the business, his employees, financing, and stakeholder expectations by drawing from his passion for—and understanding of—music.

59. How To Hire And Build A Winning Executive Team With Occam Global's Bill Holodnak 8/6/2025

    On this week's Business of Biotech episode, Bill Holodnak, Cofounder and CEO of Occam Global, a life sciences executive recruitment firm (and occasional investor), shares insights from his decades of experience pairing executives with drug development companies, and talks about the psychology of successful biotech leadership.

60. Commensal Viral Vectors With Ring Therapeutics' Tuyen Ong, M.D. 4/12/2022

    When Tuyen Ong was a child, he and his family escaped Vietnam by boat in the dead of the night, bound for an Indonesian refugee camp. They spent a year in that camp before emigrating to the U.K., where Ong’s underprivileged adolescence found him growing up in the projects of London. Against the odds, Ong worked his way to UCL for an education that culminated with an M.D. Today, he’s CEO of Ring Therapeutics, a promising emerging biotech backed by Flagship Pioneering, the kingmaker behind the rise of Moderna. On this episode of the Business of Biotech, Ong shares on his challenging formative years, the unspoken love between a father and son, facing down racism as a poor Chinese kid in Vietnam and London, and how those experiences shape his leadership at Ring. Oh, and we talk about some pretty cool science, too.